BioShock and philosophy : irrational game, rational book / edited by Luke Cuddy.

"Considered a sign of the 'coming of age' of video games as an artistic medium, the award-winning BioShock franchise covers vast philosophical ground. BioShock and Philosophy: Irrational Game, Rational Book presents expert reflections by philosophers (and Bioshock connoisseurs) on this critically acclaimed and immersive fan-favorite. Reveals the philosophical questions raised through the artistic complexity, compelling characters and absorbing plots of this ground-breaking first-person shooter (FPS) Explores what BioShock teaches the gamer about gaming, and the aesthetics of video game storytelling Addresses a wide array of topics including Marxism, propaganda, human enhancement technologies, political decision-making, free will, morality, feminism, transworld individuality, and vending machines in the dystopian society of Rapture Considers visionary game developer Ken Levine's depiction of Ayn Rand's philosophy, as well as the theories of Aristotle, de Beauvoir, Dewey, Leibniz, Marx, Plato, and others from the Hall of Philosophical Heroes"-- Provided by publisher.

"Presents expert reflections by philosophers (and connoisseurs) on BioShock, the critically acclaimed and immersive video game"-- Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher.

Title Page; Copyright Page; Contents; Hacking into This Book (Introduction); Part I Level 1 Research Bonus: Increased Wisdom Capacity; Chapter 1 BioShock's Meta-Narrative: What BioShock Teaches the Gamer about Gaming; Mind Games; Rapture: How BioShock Hooks You; Horizons and Expectations in the Mid-Atlantic; The Meta-Narrative: Twisted Horizons; Gaming Freedom: Choosing or Obeying?; Notes; Chapter 2 The Value of Art in BioShock: Ayn Rand, Emotion, and Choice; Ayn Rand on Art, Ethics, and Choice; Horror Beneath the Waves; Why Randians Should Celebrate BioShock.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the ADAMNotes; Chapter 3 SHODAN vs. the Many: Or, Mind vs. the Body; "Remember Citadel"; "What is a Drop of Rain, Compared to the Storm?"; "Your Flesh is an Insult to the Perfection of the Digital"; "And Now They Seek to Destroy Me! I Will Not Allow That!"; "All You Have is Your Hatred and Your ... Individuality"; "Remember, it is My Will That Guided You Here"; "Your Flesh, Too, is Weak. But You Have ... Potential"; Notes; Chapter 4 "The cage is somber": A Feminist Understanding of Elizabeth; "Danger: Do Not Speak to the Specimen"-Tower Sign.

"Why did They Put Me in Here? What Am I? What Am I?"-Elizabeth"I'm Out. It's Hard to Believe, but it's True, isn't It?"-Elizabeth; "You Don't Need to Protect Elizabeth in Combat. She Can Take Care of Herself"-Game Instructions; "My Days of Victimhood are Done"-Elizabeth; "Smother Him in the Crib"-Booker; Notes; Part II Tears, Time, and Reality; Chapter 5 Rapture in a Physical World: Did Andrew Ryan Choose the Impossible?; Physicalism, Ryan's Putter, and Ghosts; Plasmids and Ghosts in a Physical World; The Smell of Poo and Ghosts; The Last Bit; Notes.

Chapter 6 Would You Kindly Bring Us the Girl and Wipe Away the Debt: Free Will and Moral Responsibility in BioShock Infinite"Liberty Means Responsibility"- George Bernard Shaw; "No Animal is Born Free ..."-Zachary Hale Comstock; Between the Confines of Necessity and Free Will; Measurements in Different Worlds; Would You Kindly?; BioShock Infinite as a Frankfurt-type Example; "We All Make Choices, But in the End Our Choices Make Us"-Andrew Ryan; The Impossible Price of Clemency; "One Can't Believe Impossible Things"; Notes; Chapter 7 BioShock as Plato's Cave; Is Outside the Cave Real Either?

BioShock Is BetterThe Other "Choices"; What About Refusal?; Harvest vs. Rescue: Stroke of Genius, Not a Flaw; Pretending to Talk about It; Chapter 8 BioShock Infinite and Transworld Individuality: Identity across Space and Time; Why Should We Care?; Essentialism; Transworld Identity and Counterpart Theory; Counterparts in the World of BioShock; BioShock and Necessary Beings; The Plurality of Worlds to Come; Notes; Chapter 9 Shockingly Limited: Escaping Columbia's God of Necessity; Determinism, Necessity, and the "Infinite" in BioShock Infinite.